Page - 124 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

124 | Ulrike Luise Glum www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 123–143 endure as a consequence of the Ar- menian Genocide of 1915–1917. Like many other female refugees, Biland- jian was forced to live in a non-Arme- nian community, presumably among those who identified as Turks, Kurds, or Arabs.2 Although some women were eventually able to return home, the marks remained inscribed on their bodies as permanent reminders of their past, of stories that involved suffering, sexual violence, and the deprivation of freedom. In this arti- cle, I will analyze how this form of tattooing is connected to the regula- tion of survivors’ bodies during the time of their capture as well as after their return. While in an academic context, tattoos are often viewed ei- ther as a means of individual self-ex- pression3 or as a form of corporal punishment,4 in the context of the Armenian Genocide, they take on a rather different significance, as a form of regulation expressed in terms of assimilation and exclusion. If we focus more narrowly on the female experience of the Armenian Genocide, this process of regulation is connected to sexuality, religion and ethnicity. Photographs of the tattooed women constitute the main source used for this article. They can be accessed via the online exhibition hosted by the Ar- menian Genocide Museum-Institute and derive from accounts of relief efforts undertaken by volunteers and missionaries in support of Armenian women and children. Many of the photographs were taken by Karen Jeppe, a Danish 2 Researchers have given the creators of the tattoos various labels. This issue will be discussed later in the article. I am aware that ethnicity is an ambiguous concept and correspondingly read ethnicity not as a natural phenomenon, but as an analytical notion. For our present purposes, it is necessary to distinguish ethnicities such as “Armenian” and “Turkish”. For further reading on this topic, see Eriksen 2019. 3 See Martin 2019; Thompson 2015. 4 See Anderson 2000; Gustafson 1997. Fig. 1: L. Bilandjian, 17 years old, from Aintab. (© Nubarian Library collection, http:// www.genocide-museum.am/eng/online_ exhibition_2.php [accessed 9 January 2021])